Do you have questions about the meaning of some of the terms and teachings of The United Methodist Church? In this series, we ask clergy to share their understanding of topics. No preaching, just conversation.
In this episode, we asked the The Rev. Junius B. Dotson to talk about what it means to be a disciple. Dotson leads Discipleship Ministries, an agency of The United Methodist Church.
Transcript
The Rev. Junius Boyd Dotson: “For me, to be a disciple in its simplest form, it means to be a follower of Christ. I will never forget when I became a disciple of Jesus Christ, when I publicly accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior. But there are some things that I learned along the way that have been very helpful for me and I think are very characteristic of the life of a disciple, of a person who has committed their life to Christ. One of those things is spiritual disciplines. Practicing spiritual disciplines, I think, is a very important part of growing in our faith. Praying on a daily basis, reading Scripture, giving on a regular basis, being in worship, making worship a priority as we seek to be in the presence of God. I think we all have been given at least one spiritual gift. And to be able to share those gifts in the building of the Kingdom, to be able to share those gifts in helping others who don’t know Jesus to come to know Jesus, sharing those gifts to be transforming agents, to be difference makers, to be leaders in and through our community. I think for me, another significant part of being a disciple is being able to share your faith. Every single day, I pray for divine opportunities. Those are simply moments where somebody will come across my path, where I can engage them in conversation and you never know who’s gonna come across your path who needs to hear an encouraging word or who may need to be offered the life-saving grace of Jesus Christ. So, I think those are the most important aspects of what it means to be a disciple.”
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This video was produced by United Methodist Communications in Nashville, TN.
Media contact is Joe Iovino.
This video was first posted on March 15, 2018.
